Method and system for licensing a software product

ABSTRACT

A method and system for activating and obtaining a license for a software product is disclosed. A local license is obtained from a storage medium of the software product and is stored with the software product on a user&#39;s computer. The local license allows for one of multiple license types to be activated from a single software product. The user enters a product key containing a channel ID. The compact disk or other storage medium is searched for the appropriate local license for the channel ID. The local license includes a MSIID, a channel ID range for each supported license type, a license type for each channel id range, and an optional product expiration date for the license type. The license type is determined by looking up the product key&#39;s channel id in the local license&#39;s channel id range table. If activation is required based on the license type, then an installation ID including a product ID (PID) and a hardware ID (H/W ID) are transmitted to an activation authority. The activation authority uses the PID to determine whether the software product has been activated before and uses the channel ID to determine the type of backend license to grant. If the PID is found in the database, the activation authority applies various unlocking rules to determine whether or not the backend license should be issued and, if so, the he activation authority transmits a backend license.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This is a Continuation of application Ser. No. 09/818,156 filed Mar. 27,2001 and hereby incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention generally relates to a method and system for licensing andactivating a software product.

BACKGROUND

Computer software is a unique consumer product in that the same productcan be replicated many times after being sold. Once a software productis sold, typically as software code on a computer-readable disk, thepurchaser can easily copy the code to other computer-readable mediathereby replicating the same product many times over.

This characteristic of software can be a tremendous benefit in terms oflowering manufacturing costs and facilitating distribution. Forinstance, easy replication allows a software manufacturer to distributeone physical copy of the software product and sell a multi-seat licensethat legally empowers the purchaser to install the software product onmany different computers.

Unfortunately, this benefit comes at a cost of open abuse. Onewell-known abuse is piracy. An unscrupulous party can obtain a copy ofthe object code (legally or illegally) and then illicitly replicate andresell pirated copies of the product. Software companies attempt tomonitor piracy activities, but detection is often difficult. Moreover,even when improper activity is detected, enforcement and legal recourseis often unavailable from a practical standpoint, particularly sincemuch of the abuse occurs in foreign lands.

The computer software industry estimates billions of dollars are losteach year due to piracy and other illicit uses. To eliminate some ofthese losses, software manufacturers may require individual licensesrather than multi-seat licenses. These individual licenses are enteredinto before allowing a software product to operate. A user installing asoftware product with an individual license typically needs to activatethe software product and license before using the software product.

Activation of the software product may be accomplished by telephoning acustomer service representative and verbally transmitting a product IDand a H/W ID (some information regarding the user's computer hardware).In return, the customer service representative verbally transmits aconfirmation ID for the user to enter into his computer to activate thesoftware product. Alternatively, the software product may be activatedwithout telephoning a customer service representative, such as throughan Internet connection to an activation server.

Although these software product licenses work fairly well, there aresome problems. One problem is that a hacker may attempt to circumventthe activation process and activate a software product without a validlicense.

Accordingly, there remains a need for improved technology solutions tocombat piracy and illicit use of software products by providing licenseson a temporary and permanent basis, while recognizing and accommodatingthe needs and practices of a legitimate purchaser.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention meets the above-described needs by providing amethod and system for activating and obtaining a license for a softwareproduct. A local license is obtained from the storage medium of thesoftware product and is stored with the software product on the user'scomputer. The local license allows for one of multiple license types tobe activated from a single software product. Which license type iseventually activated for the software product depends on a product keythat is entered by the user during installation. Typically, the productkey is located in the box that contains the software product or on thesoftware product itself, such as on the compact disk. The product key isa “secure” representation of the product ID (PID) but both containsimilar content, just in different formats.

The user enters the product key which contains a channel ID. The compactdisk or other storage medium is searched for the appropriate locallicense containing product activation rules for the channel ID. Thelocal license includes a MSIID, a channel ID range for each supportedlicense type, a license type for each channel ID range, and an optionalproduct expiration date for the license type. The license type isdetermined by looking up the product key's channel ID in the locallicense's channel ID range table. Based on the license type, it isdetermined whether activation is required.

If activation is required based on the license type, then aninstallation ID including a product ID (PID) and a hardware ID (H/W ID)are transmitted to an activation authority. The PID is generated fromthe product key and typically includes a backend product code (BPC), thechannel ID, a sequence number and a random number.

The activation authority uses the PID to determine whether the softwareproduct has been activated before and uses the channel ID to determinethe type of backend license to grant. If the PID is found in thedatabase, the activation authority applies various unlocking rules todetermine whether or not the license should be issued.

The activation authority transmits to the user a backend license. Thebackend license includes the backend product code (BPC), an optionallicense expiration date, a hardware ID, a PID, a license ID, an issuedate, and a signature. The BPC is used to identify the product, such as“OFFICE PRO” or “OFFICE SBE”. The expiration date is used to identifythe duration of the license. The H/W ID ties the license to the user'scomputer. The PID ties the license to the current installation of thesoftware product. The license ID and issue date are used by theactivation authority when the user connects to the activation authorityagain, such as for renewal of the license.

That the invention improves over the drawbacks of prior art andaccomplishes the advantages described above will become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the exemplary embodiments and theappended drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary personal computer system onwhich a software product may be installed and activated with a license.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary anti-piracy system that facilitatesactivation and licensing of a software product with an activationauthority so that the software product may be installed and used on aparticular computer.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method for determining theunlocking limits of a backend license in accordance with an embodimentof the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention will be incorporated into the“OFFICE 10” suite of program modules marketed by Microsoft Corporationof Redmond, Wash. Briefly described, in one embodiment, the invention isa method and system for activating a software product through a numberof different license types. The present invention prevents users fromusing unlicensed copies of a software product while supporting a numberof different license types.

Before describing embodiments of the present invention, a description ofan exemplary personal computer system on which a software product may beinstalled and activated with a software license will be provided belowin reference to FIG. 1. Following the description of FIG. 1 is adetailed description of providing a license for a software product inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 and the following discussion are intended to provide a brief,general description of an exemplary personal computer system on which asoftware product may be installed and activated with a license. Thoseskilled in the art will recognize that software products may includeroutines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that performparticular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Moreover,those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention may bepracticed with other computer system configurations, including hand-helddevices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmableconsumer electronics, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like.The invention may also be practiced in distributed computingenvironments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices thatare linked through a communications network. In a distributed computingenvironment, software products may be located in both local and remotememory storage devices.

With reference to FIG. 1, an exemplary system for implementing theinvention includes a conventional personal computer 20, including aprocessing unit 21, a system memory 22, and a system bus 23 that couplesthe system memory to the processing unit 21. The system memory 22includes read only memory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. Abasic input/output system 26 (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within the personalcomputer 20, such as during start-up, is stored in ROM 24. A video BIOS60 may also be stored in ROM 24. The personal computer 20 furtherincludes a hard disk drive 27, a magnetic disk drive 28, e.g., to readfrom or write to a removable disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30,e.g., for reading a CD-ROM disk 31 or to read from or write to otheroptical media. The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, andoptical disk drive 30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard diskdrive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an opticaldrive interface 34, respectively. The drives and their associatedcomputer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage for the personalcomputer 20. Although the description of computer-readable media aboverefers to a hard disk, a removable magnetic disk and a CD-ROM disk, itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types ofmedia which are readable by a computer, such as magnetic cassettes,flash memory cards, digital video disks, Bernoulli cartridges, and thelike, may also be used in the exemplary operating environment.

A number of software products may be stored in the drives and RAM 25,including an operating system 35, a software product 36, such asMicrosoft's “OFFICE 10” suite of application program modules, othersoftware products 37, and program data 38. A user may enter commands andinformation into the personal computer 20 through a keyboard 40 andpointing device, such as a mouse 42. Other input devices (not shown) mayinclude a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, orthe like. These and other input devices are often connected to theprocessing unit 21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled tothe system bus, but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a gameport or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type ofdisplay device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface,such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, personalcomputers typically include other peripheral output devices (not shown),such as speakers or printers.

The personal computer 20 may operate in a networked environment usinglogical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remotecomputer 49. The remote computer 49 may be a server, a router, a peerdevice or other common network node, and typically includes many or allof the elements described relative to the personal computer 20, althoughonly a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. Thelogical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local area network(LAN) 51 and a wide area network (WAN) 52. Such networking environmentsare commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computer networks, Intranetsand the Internet.

When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 isconnected to the LAN 51 through a network interface 53. When used in aWAN networking environment, the personal computer 20 typically includesa modem 54 or other means for establishing communications over the WAN52, such as the Internet. The modem 54, which may be internal orexternal, is connected to the system bus 23 via the serial portinterface 46. In a networked environment, program modules depictedrelative to the personal computer 20, or portions thereof, may be storedin the remote memory storage device. It will be appreciated that thenetwork connections shown are exemplary and other means of establishinga communications link between the computers may be used.

Providing A Software License

As described above in the Background, delivering secure and flexiblelicenses for a software product has been problematic in the past due tonumerous reasons.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the invention includes alocal license stored with the software product. The local license allowsfor one of multiple license types to be activated from a single softwareproduct. Which license type is eventually activated for the softwareproduct depends on a product key that is entered by the user. Typically,the product key is located in the box that contains the software productor on the software product itself, such as on the compact disk.

Generally described, in one embodiment, the present invention comprisesa system for activating and licensing a software product that comprisestwo different licenses: a local license and a backend license. The locallicense includes the activation rules for the software product and thebackend license (obtained after activation) grants the user perpetual ortemporary rights to the software product. When installing the softwareproduct, the user enters a product key, typically obtained on thesoftware product's box or on the CD containing the software product.Data derived from the product key is part of a product ID (PID). Anotherpart of the product ID is the backend product code (BPC) found in thesoftware product itself. The software product generates its PID from theproduct key and the BPC.

The PID includes a channel ID (typically indicating the commercialchannel through which the software product was obtained such as retail,Beta test, promotional, etc.). The local license contained in thesoftware product includes a channel ID range table. The channel ID iscross-referenced with the channel ID range table to determine whetherthe software product needs to be activated. If so, then an installationID is generated for the software product. Typically, the installation IDcomprises the PID and the hardware ID (H/W ID). The hardware IDidentifies the hardware components of the computer so that the softwareproduct is tied to the computer and may not be installed on multiplecomputers.

The installation ID is transmitted to the activation authority and it isdetermined whether the PID has been used before. If not, then a backendlicense is generated and transmitted to the user. If the PID has beenused before, unlocking rules are used to determine whether to send abackend license. Typically, the unlock mechanism looks at the BPC,channel ID, country and count to decide whether a backend license may betransmitted. These unlocking rules will be described in more detailbelow.

Before describing other embodiments of the present invention, severalkey terms will be described below: license types, local license, productID, and backend license.

License Types

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, there are several differentlicense types that may be granted for a software product: activation,subscription, trial, voluntary or free. An activation license requiresthe software product to be activated before use (although it may operatea few times initially before locking itself) and then does not requirethat the license be renewed. A subscription license is for a limitedtime period with an expiry date. A trial license allows free use of thesoftware product for a limited period of time. A voluntary licenseallows the software product to operate (without activation) although theuser may activate the software product to receive information aboutproduct upgrades, other products, etc. A free license does not require alicense fee or activation of the software product. In one embodiment ofthe present invention, the installation ID is of variable lengthdepending upon the license type: activation, subscription, trial,voluntary or free.

Local License

In one embodiment, the local license file may comprise a MSIID, achannel ID range table, license types, an expiry date (such as for Betareleases of a software product), and a backend product code (BPC). Thelocal license file is tied to a particular software product so that thelocal license file may not be used with a separate product.

The local license file is associated with one and only one product byadding a Microsoft Software Installer identifier (MSIID) to the locallicense file. The MSIID is an identification number that is used toidentify a product by characterizing the files that are associated withthe media on which the software originally resides (e.g., the compactdisk). The MSIID may, for example, be generated by “hashing” the fileson a CD containing a software product or by any other means forassociating the MSIID with the particular, licensed software product.

At set-up, the user typically inserts the software media and runs aset-up program. The set-up program will usually require that the userenter a product key (e.g., sticker on the CD) associated with thesoftware media. Once the product key has been entered, the set-upprogram will transfer the appropriate files from the software media tothe user's hard drive. The set-up program will then generate the MSIIDbased on the contents of the media and will check the generated MSIIDagainst the MSIID stored in the local license file on the same media.This is to verify that the local license on the media was not tamperedwith prior to installation. If there is a match, the local license filefrom the media is tied to the hardware ID (H/W ID) of the computer onwhich the software product is being installed. The resulting signatureand the H/W ID will be stored in a hardware signature file. If there isnot a match, then the installation will be halted and the user will beinformed of the inability to install the software product.

At run time, a signature of the local license file and the H/W ID iscomputed and compared against the one in the hardware signature file.This comparison is done to verify that the local license was nottampered with after installation was completed. If there is a match, itis assumed that the local license belongs to the installed product and auser can use the software product. If there is not a match, a user willbe prompted to repair the software product. The repair will re-cache thelocal license from the original media and recreate the hardwaresignature file in exactly the same way as was done during set-up (afterverification that the local license on the media is valid).

For a more detailed description of the MSIID, see U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/755,433, filed Jan. 5, 2001, entitled“Electronic Software License with Software Product InstallerIdentifier”, commonly assigned and incorporated by reference herein.

Product ID (PID)

In a preferred embodiment, the product identifier, or PID, comprises a 5digit backend product code (BPC), a three digit channel ID, a sevendigit sequence number and a 5 digit random number. Typically, the PID isgenerated from the product key and the BPC that is found in the softwareproduct itself.

The BPC is used at the customer's computer to verify the license fromthe activation authority, meaning the BPC value of the license and theproduct must match. The BPC is used at the activation authority todetermine the validity and product.

The channel ID is used at the activation authority to determine thelicense type and the expiration date. Typically, the channel IDindicates the channel through which the software product was obtained(such as OEM, retailers, donation). The channel ID is used at the user'scomputer to look up the license type in the local license.

The PID is typically combined with a H/W ID to form an installation IDthat is sent to an activation authority to obtain a backend license forthe software product. The H/W ID identifies the components of the user'scomputer so that the software product may not be copied to differentcomputers (with different H/W IDs).

Backend License/Confirmation ID

Typically, the present invention includes a backend license sent fromthe activation authority to the user's computer or the user. Theconfirmation ID is the verbal representation of the backend license usedfor telephone registration. Once entered by the user, the confirmationID is converted to a “machine-readable” form like the backend licensereceived via Internet activation. Though not as obvious, Internetactivation also transforms the backend license into variousrepresentations depending on the protocols and networks it travelsthrough from the activation authority to the user's machine. Theconfirmation ID/backend license comprises a PID, H/W ID, license ID,issue date, expiry date, issue day, renewal flag, H/W ID flag, clockflag, and a signature.

The license ID is an activation authority generated serial number. Thisserial number and the issue date uniquely identify the license in theactivation authority database. To reduce the number of bits in thetelephone license, the license ID is limited to 27 bits (issue date to 7bits) in a preferred embodiment.

The issue date is the number of months since January 2000. Thus, forexample, all licenses issued in the month of August 2000 will have anissue date of 8.

The expiry date is the number of months since the issue date when thelicense will expire. The actual expiry date will be the last day of theexpiry month, which is (issue date+expiry date) months since January2000. For example, if the issue date is 8 and the expiry date is 6, thenthe actual expiry date will be Feb. 28, 2001 (the last day of 6+8 monthsfrom January 2000).

The signature is used to verify that the confirmation ID/backend licenseis from a valid source (such as the activation server) and has not beentampered with. The issue date specifies a particular month in which thelicense is issued. On the other hand, the issue day is the current dayin the month. The renewal flag indicates a renewed license. The H/W IDflag and the clock flag are used by the product to enable/disablevarious validations on the client.

Exemplary Anti-piracy System

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary anti-piracy system 300 that facilitatesactivation and licensing of a software product with an activationauthority so that the software product may be installed and used on aparticular computer 20. The system 300 includes a customer computer 20and an activation server 334, which resides at the activation authorityremote from the customer. The system 300 also includes a customer 302entering information into the computer 20 and connected via telephone toa customer service representative 304. The customer servicerepresentative 304 operates a computer that is interconnected to theactivation server 334 by a network 336 to provide data communication. Ofcourse, alternatively, the customer's computer 20 may be directlyconnected to the network 336 and activation server 334 so that thecustomer does not need to telephone the customer service representative304.

For discussion purposes, the customer computer is described as apersonal computer, such as a desktop or portable computer. However, asused herein, the term “computer” is intended to mean essentially anytype of computing device or machine that is capable of running asoftware product, including such devices as communication devices (e.g.,pagers, telephones, electronic books, electronic magazines andnewspapers, etc.) and personal and home consumer devices (e.g., handheldcomputers, Web-enabled televisions, home automation systems, multimediaviewing systems, etc.). Within the described context, the network 336 isrepresentative of an Internet or intranet, or a local or wide areanetwork. However, the network 336 may be implemented in many differentforms, including both wire-based networks (e.g., cable, telephone, fiberoptic, etc.) and wireless networks (e.g., RF, satellite, microwave,etc.)

In one embodiment of the present invention, the invention includes alocal license stored with the software product. The local license allowsfor one of multiple license types to be activated from a single softwareproduct. Which license type is eventually activated for the softwareproduct depends on a product key that is entered by the user. Typically,the product key is located in the box that contains the software productor on the software product itself, such as on the compact disk. A methodfor activating the software product will be described below.

With reference again to FIG. 2, the customer 302 purchases a softwareproduct for running on the computer 20. In this illustration, thesoftware product is in the form of a shrink-wrap product 222 having asoftware program stored on a transportable computer-readable medium,such as a CD-ROM or floppy diskette. In other implementations, thesoftware product may be delivered electronically over a network. Thecustomer loads the software product onto the computer 20 as a softwareproduct (program) 36 stored in system memory 22.

During installation, the customer is prompted to enter a product keyprinted on label 224 of the shrink-wrap package. The customer enters theproduct key which is associated with the software product 36 and theproduct key forms part of the product ID. Additionally, another portion(BPC) of the product ID is already included in the software product 36and the software product combines the two portions, along with otherinformation, into a product ID that is unique to the specificinstallation.

The product key also contains a channel ID. The compact disk or otherstorage medium on which the software product is stored is searched forthe appropriate local license for the channel ID. The local licenseincludes a MSIID, a channel ID range for each supported license type, alicense type for each channel id range, and an optional productexpiration date for the license type. The license type is determined bylooking up the product key's channel id in the local license's channelid range. Based on the license type, it is determined whether activationis required.

If activation is required, the customer registers the software productwith the activation authority via the telephone or by connecting thecomputer directly to the activation server via a network 336. Theactivation authority might be, for example, the product manufacturer oran authorized third party. The activation process forces the customer toregister the software product for installation and use on a specificcomputer.

In order to activate the software product, the following steps typicallyoccur. The software product 36 obtains its product ID 102, such as bycombining the product key entered by the user with the portion (BPC) ofthe product key stored in the software product. As an example, theproduct ID may comprise a 5-digit BPC (backend product code) value forthe software product, a 3-digit channel ID indicating a place ofmanufacture, and a 7-digit serialized number.

The software product 36 generates a hardware ID (H/W ID) that identifiesa set of hardware components that make up the customer's computer 20.The hardware ID is a multi-bit value having at least one bitrepresenting each of the corresponding system components. As an example,the software product generates a 5-bit hardware ID that includes asingle bit for each of five system components: BIOS 26, VBIOS 60, RAM25, hard disk drive 27, and floppy disk drive 28. A bit for a givensystem component can be derived in different ways, such as performing amodulo operation on a chunk of the BIOS, or on the hard disk drive'sserial number.

It is noted that other hardware components may be used. For instance,many computers are equipped with a network card with a unique 128-bitaddress. A bit for the hardware ID can be derived from this globalnetwork card address. Moreover, more than, or fewer than, five systemcomponents may be used to derive the hardware ID.

The software product concatenates the product ID with the hardware ID toproduce an installation ID, and displays the value to the user. In oneembodiment, the software product supports an activation pilot with agraphical user interface (UI) dialog window asking the customer to calla customer service representative at the activation authority. The UIwindow lists the installation ID (product ID plus the hardware ID), andincludes an entry box to enter the confirmation ID given by the customerservice representative over the phone. Alternatively, the customer mayconnect his computer to the activation authority via a network and theinstallation ID may be transmitted without using a customer servicerepresentative.

The activation authority uses the PID to determine whether the softwareproduct has been activated before and uses the channel ID to determinethe type of backend license/confirmation ID to grant. If the PID isfound in the database, the activation authority applies variousunlocking rules to determine whether or not the license should be issuedbased upon how many times the license has been unlocked before.

The activation server 334 has an activation unit 110 to assign a backendlicense/confirmation ID to the software product on the customer'scomputer. The activation unit 110 computes the confirmation ID from theinstallation ID (product ID and the hardware ID). In the illustratedimplementation, the activation unit 110 employs a hashing algorithm 112to compute a hash value of the concatenated product ID and hardware ID.The backend license includes the backend product code (BPC), an optionallicense expiration date, a hardware ID, a PID, a license ID, an issuedate, and a signature. The BPC is used to identify the product, such as“OFFICE PRO” or “OFFICE SBE”. The expiration date is used to identifythe duration of the license. The H/W ID ties the license to the user'scomputer. The PID ties the license to the current installation of thesoftware product. The license ID and issue date are used by theactivation authority when the user connects to the activation authorityagain, such as for renewal of the license. The activation server 334also maintains a database 114 to store the product ID, hardware ID, andconfirmation ID/backend license. The database 114 may also compriseoptional customer information (e.g. name, address, phone number, etc.)provided by the customer at the time of activation. Preferably, theseIDs are correlated in a table or other data record 116.

The activation server 334 returns the backend license/confirmation IDover the network 336 to the customer's computer. The confirmationID/backend license 118 is stored locally in the system memory 22 of thecustomer computer 20, where it is accessible by the software program 36.The program 36 is also equipped with the same hashing algorithm 112 asfound in the activation unit 110 at the activation server 334.

Exemplary Activation Scenario

An exemplary activation scenario in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention will be described below:

-   -   1. User inserts software CD in new computer, enters product key        when prompted, software product is installed.    -   2. User runs any application of the software product and the        application initiates licensing.    -   3. Licensing code enumerates products that contain the        application being run, each product's local license (which is        part of the software itself) is validated, a product is selected        (automatically if there's one product, manually by user if        there's more than one) from among the valid product local        licenses.    -   4. If selected product needs activation or subscription (no        valid BPC license in license store and based on the data in the        local license, user is presented with appropriate user interface        (UI) in order to perform activation or subscription.    -   5. Backend (activation authority) receives data from client        (BPC, PID, H/W ID, etc.), validates the data, and generates BPC        license.    -   6. With successful activation or subscription, a BPC license is        sent from activation authority and saved in the license store.    -   7. Quit app(s) and return to step 2.

It should be understood that at step 4, the user can choose telephoneactivation or Internet activation. In the case of telephone activation,a UI displays the telephone number to call (based on the country/regionselected by the user) and the Installation ID. The user reads theInstallation ID to the customer service representative (CSR) who entersit in the CSR Tool. The CSR Tool is a web-based tool which sends theinstallation id to the activation server and displays the confirmationID generated by the activation server. The CSR reads the confirmation IDto the user who enters it in the UI to complete the activation process.

If the user selects Internet activation, the UI connects to theactivation server to get the backend license (provided the user'smachine has the internet connectivity).

Unlocking Rules

The primary purpose of the unlocking rules is to restrict the number ofunlocks issued against a product key which is used for various scenarioslike new installation or reinstallation. Unlocking rules play a verysignificant role because there is no completely effective way todistinguish between a reinstall on a machine from a fresh install onanother machine. Unlocking rules allow the setting of an unlock limitbased on various combinations of the BPC, channel ID and country. Theunlock limit is the number of unlocks which can be issued against a PIDover the Internet or telephone modes without requiring a customerservice representative (CSR) or supervisor override.

Two types of unlock limits for a PID will be described below: Reissuewith HWID in tolerance (RIT Unlock Count) and Reissue with HWID out oftolerance (ROT Unlock Count).

The RIT Unlock Count is the maximum number of reissues (of a backendlicense) allowed (without override) when the H/W ID received is withintolerance or an exact match with the official H/W ID for the PID storedby the activation authority.

The ROT Unlock Count is the maximum number of reissues (of a backendlicense) allowed (without override) when the H/W ID received is out oftolerance with the official H/W ID for the PID stored by the activationauthority. This typically dictates the number of machines you caninstall the software product on.

It should be understood that these unlocking limits may be set based onfinding the BPC, channel ID and country in an unlock master table, whileexceptions to these unlocking limits can be specified in an unlockexception table.

A method for determining the unlocking limits will be described below inreference to FIG. 3. The type of unlock rule required (RIT or ROT) isdetermined at step 305. The type of unlock rule that is required isdetermined based on the scenario, e.g., if the HWID is in tolerance thenuse RIT count, otherwise the ROT count is used. The unlock exceptiontable is searched to determine whether a match is found for the PIDreceived in the installation ID (step 307). If so, the maximum number ofreissues (unlocks) is found at step 310 and the method proceeds to step315. However, if a match is not found in the unlock exception table,then the method proceeds to step 320.

At step 315, it is determined whether the maximum number of unlocks isunlimited. If so, then it is OK to reissue the backend license (step398). If not, then the method proceeds to step 320.

At step 320, the unlock master table is searched to determine themaximum number of RIT unlocks allowed and the maximum number of ROTunlocks allowed. The unlock master table is searched for an exact matchfor country, BPC, and channel ID combination of the received PID. If anexact match is not found, then the unlock master table is searched foran exact match for the country and channel ID combination (i.e. for anyBPC). If an exact match is not found, then the unlock master table issearched for an exact match for the BPC and channel ID combination (i.e.for any country). If an exact match is not found, then the unlock mastertable is searched for an exact match for the channel ID (i.e. for anyBPC and country). If an exact match is not found, then the unlock mastertable is searched for an exact match for the BPC (i.e. for any channelID and country). If an exact match is not found, then a message isreturned to the customer to contact a customer service representative incase of Internet activation. For telephone activation, similar messageis given to the CSR with the option to override. CSR determines thelegitimacy of the user (e.g CSR may ask the user to give a proof ofpurchase) and overrides the request if required. In case of override,activation server bypasses the unlock rules and issues the confirmationid.

At step 325, the current RIT unlock count or current ROT unlock count isdetermined based on the unlock type required. Typically, the current RITunlock count is equal to the count of the partial PID in the licensedata table when the license type is RIT. The partial PID comprises theBPC, channel ID and sequence number of the PID. The license data tablecomprises information about all of the licenses issued against a PID.Typically, the current ROT unlock count is equal to the count of thepartial PID in the license data table when the license type is ROT.

At step 330, it is determined whether the current count (calculated atstep 325) is less than the maximum count allowed (calculated at step320). If so, then the method proceeds to step 398. Otherwise, the methodproceeds to step 399.

CSR Override Mechanism

In one embodiment of the present invention, the customer servicerepresentative (CSR) or a supervisor has the capability to override afailed request for a license (i.e. to bypass the validation which causedthe request failure and complete the transaction successfully).

CSR Search Mechanism

In one embodiment of the present invention, a customer servicerepresentative (CSR) search mechanism allows CSRs to search theactivation authority database based on various search parameters such asfirst name, last name, PID, etc. and see the customer records (and theirlicense history). CSR can use search mechanism to determine thelegitimacy of the user in case of override. Typically, a CSR search isdivided into two separate requests which are described below.

CSR Search Summary Request

Typically, a CSR search summary request is primarily used to get summaryinformation about each customer record in the search result. The CSR canselect a particular record to get other details like license historyetc. for the customer. The request processing involves the followingsteps: the search criteria are sent to the activation authority; theactivation authority database is searched based on the search criteria;the search request is logged to a search request table (search requestlogging can help determine the most common search criteria used byCSRs); and the search results are sent to the CSR.

CSR Search Customer History Request

Generally, a CSR search customer history request is used when a CSRselects a customer record in a search summary result set (the recordsreturned in the CSR Search summary request). The request processinginvolves the following steps: customer ID (the unique ID assigned to thecustomer record in the database) for the selected record is sent to theactivation authority; and the activation authority returns three piecesof data to the CSR (customer information, license history, including anybilling information and override information for each license).

Installation ID During Re-activation

Typically, the installation ID comprises a product ID and H/W ID.However, when re-activating or re-activating the software product, theinstallation ID may comprise different parts.

If the H/W ID and PID have not changed since the backend license wasdownloaded, that is, the H/W ID and PID are the same as those in theactivation authority database, then the full PID and H/W ID need not beincluded in the installation ID. For these instances, the license ID andissue date are included in installation ID. If the H/W ID has changedand the PID has not changed since the backend license was downloaded,then the hardware ID has changed and needs to be included in theinstallation ID to update the activation authority database. An exampleof this scenario is when the customer upgrades his computer hardwareafter obtaining the backend license. Therefore, for these instances, theH/W ID, license ID and issue date are included in the installation ID.

Dropped License Scenario

A dropped license scenario is when a user sends a license request to theactivation authority, the request is processed, and a backend license isgenerated and logged to the activation authority database, but thebackend license is not downloaded/deposited in the license store of theuser's computer for some reason (e.g., communication error whiledownloading backend license, no disk space on the client, etc.)

In an embodiment of the present invention, the user will be able torecover/re-download the same backend license online in most cases. Thebasic idea is to correctly identify the user when he connects to theactivation authority again. This identification is achieved by using acombination of the server generated unique key (GUID) for each sessionand a request acknowledgement mechanism. The user will be redirected toa customer service representative (CSR) if the user's credentials cannotbe authenticated online.

It should be understood that the backend license typically will not beuninstalled if the software product is uninstalled. Therefore, if thecount mechanism allows, a user may uninstall and reinstall the softwareproduct on the same computer without having to contact a customerservice representative.

1. A computer-implemented method for activating an electronic productand installing the electronic product on a computer, comprising thesteps of: obtaining a local license from a storage medium of theelectronic product and storing the local license with the electronicproduct on the computer by inputting a product key and obtaining thelocal license, determining a license type and an installation ID for theelectronic product, wherein the installation ID comprises a product ID(PID); transmitting the installation ID to an activation authority; atthe activation authority, determining whether the PID has beenpreviously used to activate the software product; if the PID isdetermined not to have been previously used more than a predeterminednumber of times to activate the electronic product, determining abackend license to grant and transmitting the backend license to thecomputer to be stored on the computer; and if the determined previoususe of the PID exceeds the predetermined number, transmitting anindication to the computer that installation of the electronic productwas not successful.
 2. The method as in claim 1, wherein: the locallicense includes information for granting one of a plurality of licensetypes for the software product; and the type of backend license granteddepends on the information from the local license.
 3. The method ofclaim 2 wherein the product key comprises a channel ID and wherein thestorage medium is searched for the corresponding local licensecorresponding to the channel ID.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein thelocal license comprises a vendor installation ID, a channel ID range foreach supported license type, a license type for each channel ID range,and an optional product expiration date for the license type.
 5. Themethod of claim 4 wherein the license type is determined by searchingfor the product key's channel ID in the local license's channel IDrange.
 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the installation ID furthercomprises a hardware ID (H/W ID) describing the hardware of thecomputer.
 7. The method of claim 6 wherein the activation authority usesthe channel ID to determine the type of backend license to grant.
 8. Acomputer-implemented method for activating an electronic product andinstalling the electronic product on a computer, comprising the stepsof: obtaining a local license from a storage medium of the electronicproduct and storing the local license with the electronic product on thecomputer by inputting a product key and obtaining the local license,wherein the local license allows for one of a plurality of license typesto be activated from the software product; determining a license typeand an installation ID for the electronic product, wherein theinstallation ID comprises a product ID (PID); transmitting theinstallation ID to an activation authority; at the activation authority,determining whether the PID has been previously used to activate thesoftware product and determining the type of backend license to grant;and if grant of a backend license is determined, transmitting thebackend license to the computer and storing the backend license on thecomputer to enable activation of the electronic product on the computer.9. The method of claim 8, wherein the type of backend license to grantdepends on information in the PID and transmitted to the activationauthority.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the product key comprisesa channel ID and wherein the storage medium is searched for thecorresponding local license corresponding to the channel ID.
 11. Asystem for activating an electronic product, the system comprising: amemory storage; and a processing unit coupled to the memory storage,wherein the processing unit is operative to: receive, from a computer,an installation ID comprising a product ID (PID), a license type and theinstallation ID for the electronic product being determined at thecomputer, a local license being obtained from a storage medium of theelectronic product and the local license being stored with theelectronic product on the computer by inputting a product key andobtaining the local license, determine whether the PID has beenpreviously used to activate the software product, if the PID isdetermined not to have been previously used more than a predeterminednumber of times to activate the electronic product, determine a backendlicense to grant and transmit the backend license to the computer to bestored on the computer, and if the determined previous use of the PIDexceeds the predetermined number, transmit an indication to the computerthat installation of the electronic product was not successful.
 12. Thesystem as in claim 11, wherein: the local license includes informationfor granting one of a plurality of license types for the softwareproduct; and the type of backend license granted depends on theinformation from the local license.
 13. The system of claim 11, whereinthe product key comprises a channel ID and wherein the storage medium ofthe electronic product is searched for the corresponding local licensecorresponding to the channel ID.
 14. The system of claim 11, wherein thelocal license comprises a vendor installation ID, a channel ID range foreach supported license type, a license type for each channel ID range,and an optional product expiration date for the license type.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the license type is determined by searchingfor the product key's channel ID in the local license's channel IDrange.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein the vendor installation IDfurther comprises a hardware ID (H/W ID) describing the hardware of thecomputer.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein the activation authorityuses the channel ID to determine the type of backend license to grant.